The U.S. economy expanded 1.9 percent in the 4th quarter of 2016, according to the advance GDP estimate released today from the Department of Commerce, missing the consensus estimate of 2.2 percent from briefing.com.

During the 3rd quarter of 2016, U.S. GDP expanded 3.5 percent.

Today the Commerce Department also reported that new orders for manufactured durable goods decreased – 0.4 percent in December following a -4.8 percent decrease in November.

Economists from briefing.com had a consensus estimate of 3.0 percent for new durable orders in December.

This week saw disappointing housing data for December that came in weaker than expected.

New home sales for December increased 536,000 in December, below the consensus estimate of 589,000 from briefing.com and lower than 598,000 in November.

Existing home sales in December came in weaker than expected and grew 5.49 million, missing the consensus estimate of 5.55 million from briefing.com after rising 5.65 million in November.